HAMMOND, Ind. (AP) - A northwestern Indiana man who admitted repeatedly sexually molesting an infant girl has been sentenced to life in prison plus 85 years in a crime a federal judge called “horrific.”
U.S. District Court Judge Rudy Lozano on Thursday rejected a request by Christopher Bour for the mandatory minimum of 30 years in prison, citing the nature of the Gary man’s crime, which began when the infant was 4 months old.
“In all honesty, much of the evidence in here is very disgusting,” Lozano said during Thursday’s hearing in Hammond.
Bour, 40, pleaded guilty in January to buying a child for sex, possessing child pornography and three counts of producing child pornography.
He admitted paying a woman $500 to have sex with a 4-month-old infant girl. Prosecutors said that arrangement lasted until the child was 18 months old, during which time Bour had molested the infant on eight occasions.
The woman, who met Bour in 2011 through a dating service, also pleaded guilty in the case and is awaiting sentencing. She has admitted being in the room with Bour and the baby on all but the last meeting in 2012, when he paid her extra to be alone with the child.
Prosecutors said Bour also took sexual images of the child’s older sister, who was about 3 years old at the time.
Bour told officers he only possessed child pornography and had never sexually touched a child, but days later police found images on Bour’s computer showing him abusing the infant.
Lozano also said Bour had bragged about having sex with babies in text conversations with an acquaintance.
Bour apologized during Thursday’s hearing, but not to anyone specifically.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about the consequences of my action,” he said.
Bour’s attorney, Matthew Soliday, said his client had given police information to help them identify the woman. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Koster rejected that notion, saying officers only found her after connecting her to a phone number found on Bour’s phone.
“There are some crimes so horrible that the defendant doesn’t deserve a second chance,” she said.
___
Information from: Post-Tribune, https://www.post-trib.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.